Beatriss
Lady Beatriss of the Flatlands is the wife of Trevanion and a beloved friend and confidante of their daughter-in-law Queen Isaboe of Lumatere. She is also the mother of Vestie and stepmother of Finnikin, the queen's consort. Biography Early Life Beatriss grew up in Sennington as the only daughter of the Duke of Sennington. She was a novice of Lagrami at some point during her childhood. As a young woman she chose to come to the palace and be nursemaid to Balthazar and Isaboe, as well as work as a seamstress. There, she met Trevanion of the River, the newly promoted Captain of the Guard. Their relationship did not begin well, as Trevanion was blunt and fierce, and Beatriss appeared to be fragile and dainty. Beatriss became close friends with the three older princesses and a close confidant of the queen. Beatriss also played nursemaid to Finnikin, who was often in Balthazar's company during his visits to the palace. Finnikin, Balthazar, Lucian, Isaboe and Celie spent many days getting into mischief together. Beatriss was often hard-put to keep them under control. On one occasion, the children were hanging precariously out of a tower in the Royal Palace, with Lady Beatriss begging them to come down. Trevanion saw this, and immediately yelled at all of them. Distraught, Beatriss began to cry and he snapped at her: "Are you nothing but a girl with a pretty face and a powerful father?" After this event, Beatriss was sent back home to the Flatlands to rest and recover from her fright. Balthazar and Isaboe were given a new nursemaid, who was the meanest woman in all of Lumatere. The older princesses were furious with their father over what had happened and refused to speak to him. One day Trevanion came to Sennington with the children to deliver a message from the palace to Beatriss' father. After a time, Finnikin and the other children were tired of waiting for him to return and ventured into a paddock, where a great angry bull charged at them. Trevanion immediately rushed to their aid, but he had no idea how to stop the bull, as he was not a farmer and knew nothing of animals. When Lady Beatriss saw what was happening, she pushed the children out of harm's way and turned the bull's attention to herself. She was knocked out in the paddock, and Trevanion rushed to her. Looking up at him she asked "Was that functional enough for you, Captain?", and then slapped his face because his hands were on her thigh, and fainted. After this Trevanion wooed her, and they soon became betrothed and she became pregnant with his child. The Five Days of the Unspeakable When the royal family were slaughtered, Lady Beatriss was the only person in the palace to survive. Because Trevanion had refused to lie prostate at the Impostor King's feet, the Impostor King accused Lady Beatriss of planning the deaths of the royal family, and claimed that Trevanion had helped her. They tortured her in front of Trevanion, and he admitted to treason and thus he was exiled to the mines of Sorel. Beatriss was to be burnt at the stake. In the palace dungeons on the day of Beatriss's execution, Beatriss shared a dungeon cell with Seranonna of the Forest Dwellers. When a Lagrami novice entered to give Seranonna a blessing so she could repent before death, Beatriss felt ashamed to hear such piety coming from a novice of Lagrami. But the novice was really Tesadora, Seranonna's daughter, in disguise. Tesadora gave her mother a potion concealed in a tiny vial, one that would knock Seranonna unconcious, and she would be dead to all who saw her. However, Seranonna gave the potion to Beatriss instead. Beatriss drank the potion after she gave birth to her daughter, who only lived for a few moments. She named her Evanjalin after Trevanion's mother, and spoke aloud the names of her daughter's father and brother, so she would know who they were before she died. When Beatriss awakened, she was terrified. She knew the Impostor King and his men would come for her again. But Tesadora half-carried her out of the palace dungeons and helped her return to Sennington, and on the way there they heard that they were trapped in the Kingdom. They did not meet again for five years. Ten Years of the Curse During the ten years of the curse, Beatriss stayed trapped within Lumatere. She had no knowledge to whether Trevanion had survived or not. Once the Impostor King and his army discovered she was alive, they raped her regularly, dragging her out of her home time and again to the palace, as she was the perfect weapon to keep the trapped Lumaterans under control. It was not until Lord Nettice interved and struck a bargin with the Impostor King, which was to have Beatriss for himself, that the Impostor King left her alone. Beatriss felt relief at this, and felt ashamed at her relief. However in their fifth year of the curse, Beatriss became pregnant with Nettice's child and from that time on he stopped visiting her. When Beatriss realized she was pregnant, she went to Tesadora for help. When Vestie was born, they discovered that she walked the sleep with Tesadora, and one other person. This other person was revealed to be Isaboe, and it was this knowledge that led to the women realizing that the heir to Lumatere was the lost princess. In order to protect Vestie, Tesadora walked the sleep with Isaboe and Vestie, and as a result, Tesadora's hair turned white from the horror of what she had seen. Due to this, Tesadora, Vestie, Beatriss and Isaboe have very strong bonds to each other. After the curse After the curse was lifted, Beatriss struggled to take care of her village of Sennington as her fields did not yield a good crop. Eventually, at Isaboe's suggestion, she sold her village and allowed it to become a place of learning. She then bought the village of Fenton. During this time she patched up her relationship with Trevanion, and three years after the curse was lifted, they were married and Trevanion officially became Vestie's father. Category:Characters Category:Protagonists Category:Finnikin of the Rock Category:Froi of the Exiles Category:Quintana of Charyn Category:Lumateran Flatlands Category:Sennington Category:Fenton